Blog #5

High Quality Literacy Programs

Elementary School

The Five Pillars of Reading Instruction are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. 

A  high quality literacy program for elementary schools includes the five pillars of reading instruction. 

Phonemic awareness is the foundation.  It is the understanding that all spoken words are made using a subset of 44 individual sounds.  

On top of this comes phonics.  Students learn that the sounds in spoken words relate to patterns of letters in written words. 

When phonemic awareness and phonics are being developed techniques to improve fluency can be taught.

Vocabulary is learned directly and indirectly.  Students may need explicit instruction to learn new words to increase their comprehension of a story or concept.

Comprehension is the end goal to all reading rather it reading to yourself, or a book being read aloud.  In order for students to comprehend what they are reading they need to have phonemic awareness, know phonics, be able to read the text fluently, and know what the words mean.  Strategies should be modeled, reinforced, and practiced. 

Middle School and beyond

The thought that students are only reading to learn in the middle school years and beyond is no longer true.  Adolescents need to continue to learn about reading and literacy. They need explicit instruction, teacher modeling, fair assessments, access to a wide variety of text, taught how to use and create graphic representation, self- directed in-depth inquiry, instruction that values connection, and opportunities to engage in critical literacy.  Students also need close reading, modeling, scaffolding, and visible literacy learning (Shearer 2019) .

Literacy Plans for Schools need to include: 

• Goals- It is important that the plan be measurable, coherent, concrete, and comprehensible to teachers and administrators.
• Resources
• List of strategies 
• Screening and assessments
• Tier Support
• Intervention 
• Progress monitoring
• Parent Communication
• Staff Development

Most Important

“Every child deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design.” (Shearer 2019) The biggest factor in student growth comes from the quality of their teacher.  Administors and others involved in the development in student planning and assessment need to know that the largest factor in student growth comes for the quality of their teacher.  Teacher development will produce the greatest benefit for students.  

Allington, R. L., & Cunningham, P. (2016). Classrooms that work: They can all read and write. Allyn and Bacon.

Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., Osborn, J., & Adler, C. R. (2009). Put reading first: The research building blocks of reading instruction : kindergarten through grade 3 (3rd ed.). [Washington, D.C.?]: National Institute for Literacy.

The National Reading Panel: Five Components of Reading Instruction Frequently Asked Questions.  (n.d.) Retrieved from

Click to access National_Reading_Panel_Reading_Instruction_FAQ.pdf

Shearer, B. A., Carr, D. A., & Vogt, M. (2019). Reading specialists and literacy coaches in the real world. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press

Osseo Area Schools (2017). ISD 279 Osseo Area School local literacy plan. 

Retrieved from https://district279.org/images/Dept/CIES/LocalLiteracyPlan.pdf

Rush City Schools (2012/2013). District 139 Rush City School local literacy plan. 

Retrieved from https://www.rushcity.k12.mn.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_922064/File/Forms/Minnesota%20Local%20Literacy%20Plan.pdf